Chareidi Draft Law Extended to Next Year

The High Court has extended the chareidi military recruitment law for almost a year, just before it was set to expire next month, which would have exposed yeshiva students to the general draft.

The government will now have until June 1 to pass a new law. The previous law was stuck down in 2017, but the Court has since granted several delays to the government to revise it in order to satisfy legal demands for equality of service to the security of the state.

The chareidi parties, in accordance with instructions from gedolei Yisrael, have steadfastly opposed drafting yeshiva students, insisting that the right of any Jew to sit and learn Torah undisturbed must be respected; and that the contribution to national surivial made through Torah study is no less than that of a soldier carrying a gun.

The ruling comes amid reports that the coalition might not be able to get enough votes to pass a new conscription law. Arab parties refuse to support military laws, and the right-wing-religious opposition, though in favor of exemptions for yeshiva students, is currently pledged to vote against anything the Lapid-Bennett coalition proposes, in order to topple it as soon as possible.

That dynamic was already in view a few days ago when the opposition voted against the Citizenship law, which it is ideologically in favor of, in order to thwart the coalition, which it succeeded in doing.